April Birthstone Jewelry: Diamond!

Diamonds are among nature’s most precious and beautiful creations. Objects of lore and devotion, the April birthstone — diamonds — create an unbreakable legacy for the men and women who wear them as adornment.

Throughout history, diamonds have been admired by royalty and worn as a symbol of strength, courage and invincibility; over thousands of years, diamonds have acquired their unique status as the ultimate gift of love, both in myth and reality.
Glancing as far back as the 1st century AD, the Roman naturalist Pliny stated:

“Diamond is the most valuable, not only of precious stones, but of all things in this world.”

As a birthstone for April, here is everything you need to know about the Diamond birthstone.

On almost all modern birthstone lists, Diamond is recognized today as the birthstone for April. Diamond is also the gem that marks the 60th and 75th wedding anniversaries.

The April birthstone is deemed as the “King of all Birthstones”. For those fortunate to be born in April, the most prized gemstone is their birthstone.

The History of a Diamond:

Since the very beginning, diamonds have always been associated with romance and legend. As early as the 1st century AD, Roman text has said that Cupid’s arrows were tipped with diamonds, as part of their extraordinary magic.

The very word “diamond” comes from the Greek “Adamas” meaning unconquerable, suggesting the eternity of love. In ancient times, Kings were known to lead wars on the battlefield wearing breastplates studded with diamonds, as it was believed that diamonds possessed extraordinary power that could be bestowed upon the wearer.

The first recorded presentation of a diamond engagement ring was in 1477, when Archduke Maximilian of Austria proposed marriage to Mary of Burgundy with thin, flat pieces of diamonds creating the letter “M”.

Although engagement rings were common at this time, diamonds were a rarity and were reserved for royalty and the upper elite class.
Even the reason a woman wears an engagement ring on the fourth finger of her left hand dates back to the early Egyptian belief that the vena amoris (vein of love) ran directly from the heart to the top of the third finger, left hand.

Today, more than 80 percent of American brides get diamond engagement rings.

The Meaning of a Diamond:

The diamond has a high frequency energy has long been associated with love, strength and spirituality. A symbol of purity (due to the single chemical Carbon composition), the Diamond’s pure white light is said to help bring lives together into a cohesive whole.

It brings love and clarity into partnerships and bonding relationships.

The Mineral Details about a Diamond:

A Diamond is the hardest known substance on Earth, yet has the simplest chemical composition, consisting solely of crystallized carbon. In fact, Diamond is the only gem composed of one single element: carbon.

Carbon is an important chemical element, as it is chemically fundamental to all life on Earth. The strength of a diamond, the rarity of diamonds, and the pure chemistry of a diamond are all powerfully attractive properties to those who understand the allure of gemstones.

Composed of this single element, Carbon, a Diamond forms under high temperature (exceeding 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit) and pressure conditions that exist only about 100 miles beneath the Earth’s surface, where the pressure is approximately 65,000 times that of the pressure on the Earth’s surface.

Diamond’s carbon atoms are bonded in essentially the same way in all directions so that the crystal structure of a diamond becomes so hard that you can only scratch it with another diamond.

“Diamonds are the hardest material on earth: 58 times harder than anything else in nature.”

Diamonds also have high optical dispersion, allowing the stone to disperse a spectrum of different colors. (Also known as scintillation, or brilliance)
The unequalled strength, hardness, purity, and beauty of a Diamond are just a few reasons why diamonds are amongst the most prized, and most highly valued, of all objects on Earth.

The Birthstone:April, which is both Aries and Taurus.The Color: From bright white to pinks, yellows and various hues.The Price: Varies greatly depending on cut, clarity, color and quality.Mohs Scale of Hardness: 10 MohsAnniversary Gift:10th, 60th, 75th year

For some of our Diamond Engagement Rings and Diamond Birthstone Jewelry, we love this powerful birthstone:

As we know, a diamond is a precious stone with unmatched brilliance, unbreakable hardness and lovely optical dispersion.
Beyond the legacy of ancient lore, today, we have science to help evaluate and understand not only what makes a diamond special and beautiful, but also valuable.

One of the first things most people learn about diamonds is that not all diamonds are created equal. In fact, every diamond is unique. Diamonds come in many sizes, shapes, colors, and with various internal characteristics.

All polished diamonds are valuable. That value is based on a combination of factors. Rarity is one of those factors. Diamonds with certain qualities are more rare—and more valuable—than diamonds that lack them.

Jewelry professionals use a systematic way to evaluate and discuss these factors. Otherwise, there would be no way to compare one diamond to another. And there would be no way to evaluate and discuss the qualities of an individual diamond. Diamond professionals use the grading system developed by GIA in the 1950s, which established the use of four important factors to describe and classify diamonds: Clarity, Color, Cut, and Carat Weight.

The Four C’s of a Diamond:

The traditional “Four C’s” are cut, color, clarity and carat weight.

1. Carat weight refers to the weight of a gem.
2. Cut describes the shape of the stone and how many facets are cut or how much brilliance is going to be reflected in the diamond.
3. Color signifies the lack of color in the stone (colorless is often the most ideal in a diamond), or whether or not it’s grey or yellow or another fancy color such as pink.
4. Clarity grades how clear the stone is, whether or not it has any inclusions or little flaws inside the diamond that can be seen.

All these C’s taken together are the factors formulated to define the cost of a diamond.

Wear Tacori Diamonds in Confidence

In order to uphold the highest ethical principles in the industry, the diamonds that Tacori uses in our designs are certified to be Conflict-Free according to the Kimberley Process and as approved by the World Diamond Council. Every diamond purchase that we make includes compliance paperwork and certification through the Kimberley Process.

The Kimberley Process is a system that joins governments, industry and civil society to stem the flow of conflict diamonds. By participating in the Kimberley Process, and by only using diamonds that are certified to be Conflict-Free, Tacori is part of the global supply chain that reinforces diamond sources that are legitimately mined, sourced, and polished as a benefit to their society – rather than an illegal source of funding to unknown parties.
When you wear Tacori diamonds, you can feel confident knowing that you are wearing Conflict-Free diamonds.